ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3211 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3211 ************************************ 22 Nov 2006 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an authentic name for a woman who was originally part of a harem in Damascus but is now living with an Ottoman trader from the north. You also asked if we had any information about Native American names. Here is what we have found. Based on your persona story, we wondered whether the woman you described would have been a slave, rather than the Damascus man's wife or daughter. Slaves did not in general have the same types of names as free women. For example, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Ottoman slave concubines were usually given Persian names, and in Arabic-speaking countries, slave girls were often given flower names. On the other hand, free women usually had names with historical or religious significance, such as , the name of the Prophet's daughter. [6,7] Therefore, your choice of persona will affect whether the name you've chosen is suitable. is an Arabic name which is more accurately transliterated as , where the dot represents a period underneath the . This name is identical with the Arabic word 'to be pure', and it was the name of one of the Prophet's wives. [1,2,3,4] While harem slaves were not usually given typically Muslim names, we have found a Turkish feminine name in the 16th century [5] which is probably a form of the Arabic name . Additionally, a freed slave might choose a Muslim name as a sign that she had converted to Islam. For instance, we found a manumitted slave in sixteenth-century Istanbul named . [5] We can therefore recommend as a plausible name for a freed Ottoman slave girl. The byname is not quite right. The masculine form of the Arabic byname meaning 'from Damascus' is , and the corresponding feminine form of this byname is . [1] Based on this, is a fine name for an Arabic woman. However, we do not recommend as an appropriate name for an Ottoman slave. is an Arabic byname, and the Ottoman Turks spoke Turkish, not Arabic. Turkish names were influenced by Muslim Arabic names, but not all constructions used in Arabic were used in Turkish, and in particular, locative bynames (bynames based on place names) are fairly rare in Ottoman naming practices. Instead, in certain formal contexts, the names of freed Ottoman female slaves were recorded using an Arabic-style patronymic, with the father's name following the word . The Qur'an states that freed slaves should be called by their fathers' names rather than the names of their masters. The name , which comes from the Arabic phrase <`Abd Allah> 'servant of Allah', may be a generic choice for someone whose father's name is unknown, or may signal that the child has converted to Islam. [6] is a fine name for a freed Turkish slave woman who has converted to Islam. For more information about slave names in general, we recommend that you read the following report, where we researched the question in great detail: Academy of S. Gabriel Report #3023 http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/showfinal.cgi/3023.txt We don't have any sources for Native American names, either during the SCA's period or later. One of our members has said that she'd be willing to do some further research on this topic if you could specify a group which had contact with Europeans before the end of our period. If this interests you, please write us again. We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you won't hesitate to write us again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Ursula Georges, Maridonna Benvenuti, Juliana de Luna, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 22 November 2006 -- References: [1] Da'ud ibn Auda, "Period Arabic Names and Naming Practices," (WWW: SCA.org, 2003) http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/arabic-naming2.htm [2] Schimmel, Annemarie, _Islamic Names_ (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1989). p. 63 [3] Arabic has two different sounds, represented by two different letters in Arabic script. When Arabic is written in Roman letters, one of these letters is transcribed as a plain , the other as an with a dot under it. We've used to stand for this second letter. The two letters are pronounced somewhat differently in Arabic, but the difference is not easily described; the ordinary English sound of is a reasonable approximation to either. If you want to try for more accuracy, we can only recommend that you find someone who speaks Arabic. [4] Mari/n, Manuela, _Mujeres en al-Andalus. Reflejos histo/ricos de su actividad y categori/as sociales._ Estudios onoma/sticos- biogra/ficos de Al-Andalus, 11. (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cienti/ficas, 2000). [5] Ursula Georges (alias Ursula Whitcher), "Sixteenth-Century Turkish Names," (WWW: Ursula Whitcher, 2002). http://www.s-gabriel.org/ursulageorges/onomastics/ottoman/ [6] Academy of S. Gabriel Report #3023 http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/showfinal.cgi/3023.txt [7] Uckelman, Sara L. & Ursula Whitcher, "Concerning the Names Jasmine, Yasmin, Yasaman, and the Like" (WWW: Problem Names Project, 2006) http://www.medievalscotland.org/problem/given/jasmine.shtml